Customer Reviews

Sudden Mischief: a Spenser Novel

5 star:		(10)
4 star:		(21)
3 star:		(16)
2 star:		(7)
1 star:		(3)

 

 

After Small Vices, perhaps the best of Parker's Spenser series, a letdown was expected. It would have been inappropriate to have so intense a story follow so quickly -- the suspension of disbelief would have been been unsustainable.

So Sudden Mischief focuses on relationships more than action. While Pastimes illuminated Spenser's childhood, details of Susan's pre-Spenser history are exposed in Mischief. This isn't as bad as it might seem. Earlier in the series, I found Susan to be so self-absorbed I almost stopped reading. However, she's since matured, developed, and become more an asset to Spenser's work than a liability. I actually found her presence enjoyable here.

The "mystery" part of the book is more ordinary by Spenser standards. As others have pointed out, there's all the usual Spenser elements, including his annual rejection of supermonogamous temptations. But the story is hardly very compelling. There isn't much mystery there. The reader is left in a more passive role, turning the pages to see what will happen next, without much speculation into or concern over what that will be. Still, the story isn't overtly bad.

Even if it was, Parker's writing is always a joy. So, if you're a fan of the Spenser series, Sudden Mischief is a worthwhile investment of your time, and not only for the development of Susan's character.

Somehow, I feel a batch of people have missed the point here. This is a pivotal novel, one in which Susan has to face some things she would prefer not to.

Susan's ex-husband comes to her for help. Of course, she doesn't understand the kind of help he's looking for and her misunderstanding involves Spenser and eventually turns up a batch of stuff that the ex is involved in.

Human emotions are dealt with here, and it's revealing to watch Susan as she begins to realize some of her own hang-ups. As far as the mystery goes, there isn't great mystery here. We learn what's going on at the same time that Spenser does and much of it isn't a surprise. Parker does telegraph much of the time and I believe this to be purposeful.

More and more, in these later Spenser stories, Parker does something unexpected. This time, it's the ending which is unusually abrupt. There's reason here, and Parker does know exactly what he is doing in the way he's crafting these stories.

I'm not as pessimistic as "judge" above. Yes, Parker slipped badly in the early 90s - I was particularly annoyed by several short books with very wide margins. But this and the last entry ("Small Vices") were much improved. In both these books Spenser and Susan deal with substantive issues in their relationship: whether or not to adopt a child in the first, and Susan's silence about her past and her loyalty and committment to men not worthy of her in this one (Spenser, of course, both does and does not fit that category.) Where Parker is lacking is precisely those places that Judge identifies - Spenser's wonderful relationships with the supporting cast, and the excellent characterizations found there. I read these books as much for Hawk and Belson and Quirk, and the more of them the merrier. At least Rachel Wallace makes a cameo here. Another significant shortcoming is the waste of a truly worthy white-collar foe for Spenser, a visciously corrupt Brahmin lawyer/judge who meekly shows up at the end and writes a check.... Boo! You'd be hard pressed to beat the climaxes of both this book and Small Vices, though. I found them gripping and beliveable, and Spenser's restraint both times it quite impressive. Get it from the library, or wait for the paperback, however - I haven't bought Parker in hardcover since "A Catskill Eagle."

There are some characters who have been around so long and are so consistent that they fit like an old pair of jeans; there are some books that are so easy and go down so smooth that they can be read in one gulp. The character, of course, is Spenser; the book, Sudden Mischief, the latest Spenser novel from the typewriter of Robert B. Parker.

These books are designed for one-stop reading. They take three hours, give or take for your reading speed, and are meant to be devoured by the fire with a bottle of Jack Daniels for company. The plots are pretty similar, and many of the same things happen (Spenser cooks. Spenser quotes Spenser. Spenser beats people up. Spenser and Hawk trade jibes.). Basically, the Spenser novels are genre fiction, formulaic, pure and simple. But they're GOOD genre fiction. Spenser is an easy guy to like, as long as you're not on his bad side. He's intelligent, he makes a mean plate of spaghetti, he's got the cutest sidekick in the business (Hawk can rough me up any time!), he knows his medieval literature, and he's pretty good at walking the balance between solving crimes and committing them. What's not to like?

The initial premise of this novel is rather unusual. Brad Sterling, the ex-husband of Spenser's girlfriend Susan comes to her and asks for assistance in combating a sexual harassment charge being pressed by several women who worked with him on a charity fund-raising event. Susan then asks Spenser to assist in resolving the problem. The investigation involves high powered lawyers, major underworld figures, marital infidelity, and the usual group of characters in a Spenser story.
The plot is convoluted, taking many directions, leading to many possibilities as to who committed the two murders. There are several suspects, and the obvious ones are investigated. While there is always a great deal of emotion between Spenser and Susan in these stories, the involvement of her ex-husband intensifies the relationship. At the end, there is a showdown different from that of other stories, in that it is Susan facing down her past rather than Spenser confronting the perpetrator(s).
The story moves along very well and keeps you uncertain as to what the true circumstances are. It keeps your attention and the deeper psychological activity between the main characters is an element that makes it all the more interesting.

Sometimes I wonder if those of us who read series (especially long-standing series like Spenser) have unrealistically high expectations for each new book. I think the truth of the matter is that some books will be great and some will be just okay, and maybe a few will genuinely suck (though not too many, we hope). After all, who has a great year every year? Some are good, some better than others. That's just real life. And Parker's series seems to do a good job of replicating this aspect in Spenser's life. Some years have huge crises and brushes with death; others not much happens.

This volume is one of the mid-level ones. It's okay, not bad, not great either. One aspect I think rather unrealistic is the idea that Spenser and Susan have been together for twenty years and have never talked about her past. In most dating relationships, this comes up in the first month. In some ways, perhaps this is Parker overcompensating for unduly neglecting this aspect of Susan's character in the past. He probably felt like he had to get it in sometime, and though it would have been more appropriate some ten or fifteen books ago, it's probably good that he got it in now.

Parker has said that he doesn't have a favorite Spenser book; he feels like all of them are just episodes in an ongoing series and they sort of blur together. And maybe in this way, Spenser really reflects life. So if this book wasn't a dazzler, that's okay. That's just life.

Once again Robert B. Parker has gone out and written a masterful novel in the Spenser series. This time Spenser is asked to look into a sexual harasssment case against Susan's ex- husband, Brad Silverman. As Spenser digs deeper and deeper into the past of Brad and Susan, Brad suddenly disappears. Because Spenser and Hawk found a dead body in Brad's office suspicion is shifted towards Brad and his cloudy and questionable past. When one of Brad's other ex- wives is found murdered that is when Spenser becomes very confused about where Brad is hiding and who killed these two people. Happy reading spenser fans!

Ok, there isn't as much action in "Sudden Mischief" as there is in some of the other Spenser novels. No matter. It has always been my contention that Robert B. Parker writes love stories that are disguised within the mystery genre. Think about it. What has always been paramount in his novels has been the relationships, especially those of Spenser to Hawk and Susan. And when the cases are most compelling, it means Spenser has taken a personal interest in his client: Paul Giacomin, say, or Rachel Wallace. In "Sudden Mischief," Spenser's client is Susan, as she asks him to help our her troubled ex-husband. There's no getting away from the fact that this is Susan at her neurotic best, but it also is Spenser at his compassionate best. The story also gives new colors (no pun intended) to his friendship with Hawk, and at the very least continues to paint Boston and environs in delightful new shades. If you can get through the early chapters without getting hunry for fried oysters, you're a better person than I. "Sudden Mischief" may not be a major work in the series, like "Early Autumn" or "Mortal Stakes." But it is a terrific diversion with characters who have become old friends, and who but a curmudgeon could complain about that?

I find it odd, having actually discovered Parker with this book, that so many people seem to dislike it. I thought it was incredible, & continue to think so even after reading every other spenser book. I also don't know why people are reading the books if they don't like Susan. The relationship has been there since book two, & i find this chapter in their relationship to be a worthy addition. Are people looking for action? Most of his books, with the notable exception of a Catskill Eagle, are heavy on dialougue, not action. The relationships between all the characters are what have made this series compelling. A worthy addition, and a good introduction for those of us who joined the party late. By the way, I think Valediction is his best.

SUDDEN MISCHIEF, # 25 in the Spenser series, provided another prime work up on the Man/Woman relationship scene, dealing with ex-hubby scars, Susan's turtle-snap moods, and a new-and-improved conversational skill from Dr. Sigmund Spenser. I'm roaring onward toward the end of the series with continued amazement at how many miasmas of human angst Parker has been able to muck into, for Spenser to clarify and deodorize; and how many relationship scenes and character cards he can lay bare on any table, with Spades called true.

Opening what I might term "The Pandora in The Relationship," a scene between Spenser and Susan slipped suddenly from the most comfy of cozy, with humor set and staged on-a-roll ... to sour milk, paused peace, and stomach knots. I felt that hit along with Spenser, possibly more than any other emotional toll taken in the series (except when Susan left in VALEDICTION, # 11 in the series). The way Spenser worked with and through the situation was a perfect expression of ... not of psychological actualization ... but of the wisdom of a dynamically-operating human maturity. This scene and Spenser's "self-talk" in understanding the dense drama underlying Susan's behavior took the reader ozone holes beyond the trite advice to "roll with the punches."

I particularly enjoyed the few glove punches of tribute to X-Files here, in the slight, playful change in the style of humor between Hawk and Spenser, and in the Lone Gunman computer geek. SUDDEN MISCHIEF was another example of the cultural evolutionary intrigue contained in this triple-decade-running series. In this one and in a few previous recent offerings readers were also given hints of the beginning of The-Waitress-Hurry-Rush-Syndrome, which appeared to have begun in the nineties.

In SUDDEN MISCHIEF Spenser stepped up to the tallest measure of being Susan's hero, savior, Knight-in-Shining Armor, and her Shrink. Acting as her shrink, Spenser's jangled the jargon from the popular surge of psycho-self-help books which carried "come-communicate" concepts from the 70's and 80's into the 90's. Spenser's part of every dialogue with every character seemed to have suddenly altered in MISCHIEF in a manner which felt somewhat but not totally, tongue-in-cheek. The alteration came through the famous style of the Shrink's SILENCE, the true listening mode ... of no response ... to stretches of out-loud contemplations from whomever happened to be the partner in repartee (or payer of shrink-wrap fees). I enjoyed the fact that the dialogues often took place over meals or in interesting restaurants, so that when Spenser worked the no response deal, he replaced the saved mouth motion with warm, moist bites of fresh, spongy bread, and savored the yeasty flavor. Usually his comment in that venue went something like, "I took a bite of .... It was good."

Spenser did the shrink silence with as much perfection as he has done all else. Even so, one of the reasons for success of his perfection was his ability to see (and note) his and Susan's flaws here. And, Susan's self-actualization scene in chapter 48 was truly incredible in Parker's perfection of process of her coming to that catharsis, with Spenser providing support in an awesomely effective way of stand-aside-but-be-ready.

As noted above, it appeared to me that the humor had changed slightly in this one, with appetizer overtures in recent previous offerings as well. Some of the conversational fun-poking definitely seemed to have taken on a warmly entertaining edge of the X-Files, Fox Mulder type.

The combo of these subtle changes continued to herald the "Signs of the Times," reinforcing my sense of one of the major values in this series being its feathered function as a cultural-evolution-landmark for the 70's, 80's, 90's, and 00's.

Sometimes series authors have espoused a wish that they could get out of the limitations of a genre and write something "significant." Parker has repeatedly and unfailingly honored his series genre, while packing his products with the ultimate in literary significance. Possibly the greatest gift in this accomplishment is that readers can choose to see this significance (and be awed by it). Or, they can merely let go of cares and worries, and be entertained by pure escape fiction.

I wonder if RBP was born on the precise point of an Annular Solar Eclipse, to have continually generated and successfully manifested so much primal, pivotal creativity. Or maybe ... like today ... Robert B. Parker was born during a Blue Moon peaking full in the company of Jupiter and Vesta (the asteroid). All I know about that is that he was born in 1947 (or 48?), a Baby Boomer like many of us.

Another man, born in 1928, wasn't a Baby Boomer, nor an author, yet he reminds me of Parker, in the sense of the above described type of continued creative generation and manifestation. See the Amazon Short, I Worked: A True Story

Immensely thankful for fascinating feats such as these,
Linda G. Shelnutt